Welcome to Prosper Health Collective (PHC) and thank you for entrusting us with your healthcare.
This document explains several important aspects of treatment at the practice. Although it is lengthy, it is important you read it carefully and ask any questions you might have.
Therapy Service
In order to provide you with the highest standard of healthcare, PHC will need to collect and record personal information from you such as your name, contact information, medical history and other relevant information that is relevant to your current situation. This information will be a necessary part of the assessment and treatment that is conducted.
Our services may include one to one therapy (face to face or telehealth), group therapy, phone calls, emails, report writing, form completion, liaison with or attendance at stakeholder meetings and any associated travel needed to provide health care.
Confidentiality and Disclosure of Personal Information
All personal information gathered by the clinician during the provision of the therapy service will remain confidential and secure except when:
- It is subpoenaed by a court or
- Failure to disclose the information would in the reasonable belief of the clinician to place you or another person at serious risk to life, health or safety; or
- Your prior approval has been obtained to exchange information and provide written reports to another professional or agency. eg. a GP or a lawyer; or discuss the material with another person. discuss the material with another person, e.g. a parent, employer or health provider; or disclose the information in another way; or
- Disclosure is otherwise required by law.
Disclosure of Personal Information as part of your care
To provide you with the best and optimal care, your personal information may be disclosed in the following limited circumstances:
- Where relevant, to your healthcare team as part of your overall health treatment. This might be to your referring psychiatrist, GP or other referrer or agency (eg WorkCover);
- To other clinicians within Prosper and to other clinicians who are not part of Prosper to enable your treating clinician to obtain necessary supervision, input and guidance on providing you with the most optimal healthcare possible;
- To another clinician within Prosper that provides you with healthcare in the absence of your usual treating clinician (for instance if they are on leave or no longer available to provide you with care).
Access to your personal information is strictly regulated by law and by our own policies and procedures. Whilst we maintain your personal information in strict confidence, all medical records are accessible to:
- Our clinicians for the express purpose of providing you with the best healthcare;
- Our other employees who may need access to assist your treating clinician provide you with the best possible care.
In all circumstances, your personal information will be treated as strictly confidential. All Prosper employees and contractors are bound by strict confidentiality obligations to you as part of the terms of their employment.
Emergency Care and Crisis Situations
PHC is unable to provide emergency services. You may try to reach your clinician in urgent situations by calling the practice, but it is important to have an alternative plan in place, particularly in times of crisis. If you are having an emergency, please contact the Mental Health Emergency Response line on 1300 555 788, contact your General Practitioner or proceed to an Emergency Department of your nearest hospital.
Contacting your Clinician
Our reception is staffed 9am to 5pm and we have a voicemail system outside of these hours which is monitored. Clinicians at the practice are happy to receive email correspondence although this is not advised for information of a highly personal nature in case of confidentiality breaches. We have a policy in place to always return calls and emails within 48 hours of receipt. If the matter is urgent, please seek alternative assistance as listed in the section above.
Please do not use SMS (mobile phone text messaging) or messaging on Social Networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to contact the practice. These sites are not secure, and we may not read these messages in a timely fashion. Your confidentiality may also be compromised by using these methods of communication.
Purpose of collecting and holding information
Your personal information that is gathered as part of your assessment and treatment is kept securely and, in the interests of your privacy, used only by your clinician and the authorised personnel of the practice (as necessary). Your personal information is retained in order to document what happens during sessions and enables the clinician to provide a relevant and informed therapy service to you. A more detailed description is provided in the practice’s “Privacy Policy for Management of Personal Information”, which can be obtained by contacting the practice. The Privacy Policy contains information about how to access and seek correction of your personal information, and how to lodge a complaint about our management of your personal information.
Consequence of not providing personal information
If you do not wish for your personal information to be collected in a way anticipated by this letter or the Privacy Policy, PHC may not be in a position to provide the therapeutic service to you. You may request to be anonymous or to use a pseudonym, unless it is impracticable for the clinician to deal with you or if the clinician is required or authorised by law to deal with identified individuals. In most cases it will not be possible for you to be anonymous or to use a pseudonym, however if the clinician agrees to you being anonymous or using a pseudonym, you must pay consultation fees at the time of the appointment.
Access to client information
At any stage you are entitled to access your personal information kept on file, subject to exceptions in the relevant legislation. Your clinician may discuss with you different possible forms of access.
Fees
Please refer to your appointment confirmation email for quoted fees. Fees vary based on the clinician seen at the practice.
Your services may be funded by a third party (e.g. DVA, NDIS, EAP). If so, please be aware that there are limits to the services provided by your funding body and you should make yourself aware of these limits. Our full fees apply outside of the services funded by your third party and are the clients responsibility to pay. This includes payment of late notice fees incurred that are not covered by the funder.
Please note that fees are reviewed periodically and subject to change. An email will be sent one month in advance to advise of fee changes.
Payment is required at the time of your appointment or prior to the appointment for online/telehealth appointments. All unpaid accounts will incur an additional $20 administration fee.
Fees are applicable to all direct and non direct therapy services. Non direct services include but are not limited to phone calls, emails, report writing, completion of forms, attendance at meetings and travel time. Any service greater than 10 minutes may be charged by your clinician and will be discussed with you in advance. You will be provided with a time estimate and invoiced for such services.
Rebates from Medicare and most private health funds may be available for eligible clients after your account is paid in full. Please note there is an out of pocket expense. Please contact Medicare or your private health fund to discuss rebates prior to your first session. Appointments booked with our Provisional psychologist are not eligible for any Medicare rebates and therefore are offered at a lower rate.
A surcharge is charged for credit card use.
In the event of non-payment the outstanding amount may be deducted using our credit/debit card authority service agreement.
Credit card details are requested on intake for the purpose of payment defaults only. Your stored payment details are not accessed for regular payments. We request that regular payments are settled via eftpos on the day of appointment. Your credit card details will be encrypted and stored safely. In the event of non-payment of your account after 21 days our software system will process your payment using the stored credit card facility. A processing fee of approx. $5 will be added to the outstanding amount and charged to your credit card.
Please Note: There is a surcharge of $20 for after hours appointments. This fee is applicable for appointments booked before 8am and after 6pm on weekdays.
Attendance & Late Notice Policy
Clients are expected to attend all scheduled appointments in order to make progress in their treatment plan. When appointments are booked, the clinician reserves the time especially for you, therefore we require 48 business hours notice to reschedule a session without incurring any extra fees. Please refer to our Attendance Policy for more details.
Social Media and Electronic Communication Policy
Some clients wish to invite clinicians or former clinicians to be friends on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Unfortunately, clinicians are unable to accept requests of this kind. We feel your privacy and confidentiality are better protected if clinicians are not part of your online social network.
PHC does operate social media accounts to present relevant information to clients such as our blogs and other interesting information. You are welcome to follow us on any of these pages. However, please note that this may jeopardize your confidentiality. Whilst we appreciate feedback on Social Media, clinicians are prohibited from using testimonials in their advertising. As such we are required to delete all posts from clients.
Client newsletters are produced, and we request your consent to use your email address to send out this newsletter. Your details are confidential, and we do not release your email address to third party providers. From time to time we also use email to correspond with you about other information related to the practice.
The privacy of any form of communication via the internet or a mobile device is potentially vulnerable and limited by the security of the technology. If you are accessing our online services, please note that all efforts are made to use an encrypted service to ensure your privacy and confidentiality.
Recordings of any online sessions will not be made. We also ask that clients do not make recordings of sessions without our written consent. We will seek the same from you should we feel it important to record a session.
Charter for Clients
This is available upon request and explains your rights as a client of PHC.